Yesterday, I trekked into the centre of Amsterdam to see Father Christmas. Or, more aptly, Saint Nicholas.
Here in The Netherlands, Christmas is celebrated in a different manner to the UK and US, with celebrations taking place much earlier and gifts being exchanged on the 5th December, instead of the 25th. The season officially begins when Saint Nicholas (or Sinterklaas) himself arrives on his boat from Spain (where he apparently lives all year round. Despite the number of tourists that go there every year, I’ve never heard of a sighting….how suspicious). This is usually at the end of November and from the day he arrives, Saint Nicholas visits schools, homes, shops and hospitals and asks children what presents they would like to receive and if they’ve been well behaved.
However, there is one pretty big difference of The Netherlands’ version of Saint Nicholas to the fat bearded white man we know and love from the Coca Cola commercials. And that is that this St. Nick is accompanied by lots and lots of black “servants”.
Yes, I’ll let you digest that for a minute.
These black helpers, also known as Zwarte Piet (or Black Peter) follow Saint Nicholas on his journey and help him amuse and entertain the children, while also, I assume, helping him deliver his presents. The origins of Zwarte Piet are slightly befuddled; some sources claim he was a Turkish Moor who came with Saint Nicholas from his home country of Turkey. Others claim he was a devil forced to help Saint Nicholas after his capture in the early 19th Century.
Either way, these days, everyone is happy to see Piet (in his many male and female incarnations), with his blacked-up face, as he hands out gingerbread, sweets and flags to the children. I swear that this wouldn’t fly in either the UK or US, but seeing as we’re happy to dress up midgets as “elves” each year, I guess we have no room to critcise.
Anyway, enough about the history, here’s some photos of the parade that took place in Amsterdam yesterday, as the Saint arrived in this part of the country to greet the children…
And then, the moment of truth……the Saint himself!
It was all over so quickly. I was so busy waving at him through my excitement that I couldn’t get a face-on shot of him (did I mention that I was also hyped up on free candy and waving a flag?!).
Although it was totally different to my own Christmas celebrations, it was still so much fun to see how excited all the children were and was really interesting to witness the traditions of another country. Especially because I still get to go home and celebrate my own traditions this year too!
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